Kira Trevino search turns to Keller Lake in Maplewood

Local law enforcement agencies, including divers and dogs, search Keller Lake in Maplewood on Tuesday afternoon, March 19, 2013. (Pioneer Press: John Doman)

Cadaver dogs scented possible human remains in Maplewood's Keller Lake, leading divers under the ice Tuesday, March 19, during a search for Kira Trevino, a St. Paul woman who is missing and presumed dead.

It was the latest event connected to the lake: Someone contacted St. Paul police to report seeing two people carrying what looked like a rug on the ice-covered lake in the hours after Trevino, 30, was last seen. Her husband has been charged with murder in her death.

And during a volunteer search at Keller Regional Park on Saturday, someone found an item; police were investigating but haven't said what it was or determined whether it is related to the case.

Also Saturday, a volunteer saw a hole in the ice; a cadaver dog went directly to that spot Sunday, said a searcher.

Keller Lake is just over two miles from the home Trevino and her husband, Jeffery Trevino, were renting in Payne-Phalen.

After Jeffery Trevino reported his wife missing Feb. 24, her mother told police the couple had been having problems and expressed concern that he might have hurt her, according to the criminal complaint filed Feb. 28 that charged Trevino, 39, with two counts of second-degree murder.

Police searched the couple's home in the 500 block of East Iowa Avenue and found "copious amounts" of blood and evidence that someone tried to perform extensive cleanup, the complaint said.

Trevino remained jailed Tuesday on $1 million bail. He hasn't formally entered a plea, but his attorney has said his client is not guilty.

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Police have asked the public for information about Jeffery Trevino's whereabouts from 9 p.m. Feb. 21 until 9:45 a.m. Feb. 22.

A woman told a Pioneer Press reporter Friday night that one of her hairdressing clients saw two men on Keller Lake, not far from the bridge, carrying or struggling with what looked like a rug between 1 and 2 a.m. Feb. 22. She said she and the client had contacted the police tip line on the Trevino case.

On Saturday morning, a woman posted a message with similar information on a Facebook page, "Justice For Kira Steger Trevino," that community members have been using to organize searches.

Kira Trevino's father, in town with other relatives during weekend searches, went to Keller Regional Park on Saturday along with other searchers, said Abbie Slotsky, who has been organizing searches through the Facebook page. Searchers found the item that day that was turned over to police.

The tip about someon seen carrying something across the lake was among more than 100 tips on the police line, said St. Paul police spokesman Howie Padilla.

"For folks to be making the leap that that's the tip that we're working on today, I think is dangerous," Padilla said.

"This is not the first search we've done. This is also not the first item that we found."

It is the first time divers have been put to work in the case, police said.

On Saturday, one searcher saw a hole in the ice on Keller Lake and notified police, Slotsky said.

Volunteers returned Sunday to Keller Park to search. Slotsky said she saw a dog with police that went directly to the hole in the ice the searcher had seen the day before.

The cadaver dogs working Tuesday appeared to show interest in an area of Keller Lake where a dog had previously alerted, police said.

Police arrived at the lake about 9 a.m. Tuesday. The Ramsey County sheriff's office first used remote-operated imaging sonar and an underwater camera connected to above-water monitors.

Four divers -- three from the sheriff's office and the other from St. Paul police -- took turns in underwater searches in the afternoon, with the last diver surfacing shortly before 4 p.m., said Randy Gustafson, sheriff's office spokesman

Police searched Tuesday on the west side of the lake, south of the Minnesota 36 bridge.

Emily Gurnon contributed to this report. Mara H. Gottfried can be reached at 651-228-5262. Follow her at twitter.com/maragottfried.

HOW TO HELP

Anyone with information about the case is asked to call police at 651-560-3277. A fund has been established to help Kira Trevino's family with expenses. Donations can be made to the "Kira Steger Trevino Fund" at River Valley Bank, 327 N. 17th Ave., Wausau, WI 54401.